Harry had been back at the Dursley's for two weeks already and Uncle Vernon, Aunt Petunia, and Dudley were still avoiding him. They refused to let him do anything out of fear that it would be misconstrued as treating him horribly. They definitely didn't want a crazy woman with pink hair arriving at their house and having the neighbors think of them as strange. Even though this meant no chores except for keeping his room and Hedwig taken care of, it also meant he couldn't so much as fix himself lunch, even if no one was home. Because of his lack of chores he had nothing do to get his mind off of Sirius's death and the Prophecy. His friends would write to him and his only response would be "Everything is fine, the Dursley's are behaving." Then he'd go back to thinking over what he could have done to prevent Sirius's death and what the Prophecy meant to him and those around him.

The only time he escaped from his depression was when Professor Dumbledore's phoenix, Fawkes, arrived each night at 7pm to give him the daily report of anything that was going on that has been approved for him to know.
He was told of their plans to install a member of the Order as the new, upcoming Minister of Magic (but he wasn't told who the candidate was). Fudge had decided to leave office early because of his fears of Voldemort. Harry was also told he could not leave the Dursley's because, even though he now understood that with the blood-protection magic its was the safest place for him, even if he hated it. Professor Dumbledore was trying to think of ways to allow Ron and Hermione (his two best friends) visit him at least once. It was said that Tonks would arrive as a mailwomen and would perform a conforming charm on Harry's Aunt and Uncle, to get them to go along with Tonks' idea of allowing Ron and Hermione to visit, but that wouldn't be until mid-August. Dumbledore also explained his worries over Hermione's safety with her parents. She couldn't go to Grimmauld Place because no one was there yet. Mr. and Mrs. Weasley were off on Order business and Ron and his sister Ginny were staying with their twin brothers in the apartment over their joke shop on ninety-three Diagon Alley, until their parents returned at the beginning of August. So with all of these worries in mind, Harry once again fell into a deep, haunted sleep.

It was three days later when Harry finally started to come out of his depression and found a new resolve to train himself up. Professor Dumbledore mentioned it might be beneficial to be physically trained as well as mentally. So, Harry set up his routine of running as long as he could, then working on his upper body. He was allowed to go use Dudley's weight bench that was used for Dudley's boxing. He got into a regular routine of waking up at eight each morning, running, taking a shower, be back in time for breakfast at ten, do reviews for Hogwarts, work out some more, more review if time permitted, six o'clock dinner, and seven o'clock Dumbledore's news, and more review. The routine was good for him because it took his mind off of Sirius and the Prophecy. He would even occasionally answer one of Ron or Ginny's owls. (Hermione wasn't allowed to receive owls so she couldn't send or reply to letters either).

Harry woke up the following morning and got ready to go running, it was
a good way to escape all of his thoughts and clear his mind and really enjoyed it. He had been into his regular routine for a week and his sixteenth birthday was drawing steadily nearer. Only five days after today and he would be sixteen and one year after that an adult in the wizarding world, one who could do magic anytime and anywhere (within reason) he wanted. He would be free from the Dursley's and would need to get a job. He wasn't sure what he would do, and it wasn't helping that he didn't know what he made on his OWLs yet either. They allowed you to get specific classes for your sixth and seventh year in Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Professor Dumbledore had hinted at a job, but he still wasn't sure what the old wizard was talking about.

Harry decided he was going to run over to Mrs. Figgs this morning and see if
she had any updates. When he knocked on the door, it was answered almost immediately by Tonks, who was looking normal in short blond hair and a regular muggle clothes. Tonks showed him the way inside where she was doing research with Mrs. Figg. Since Mrs. Figg was a squib, she had plenty of time to do research for the Order. Tonks was busy brewing a potion.

"What are you doing here?" asked Harry.

"Oh, I am on duty as a guard from the Order, since I'm half muggle I can blend in
better than the rest. Do you like the hair? Anyways, today is my day off since it is Wednesday, I also get off on Saturday. Mrs. Figg is letting me stay with her. In return I have to help with her research and potions for the Order."

"Oh, I had wondered if anyone was still following me, is there anything new in the Order that I'm allowed to know about?" asked Harry.

"Sorry Harry, but it isn't anything you're allowed to know, now go back
running. If you want, you can come back on Wednesdays or Saturdays to
help me brew potions, which would be fine. You can't today though, because… well, its top secret." She paused. "Oh, this is something you'll find amusing. Fred and George are now our little inventors, they still create their inventions, but Dumbledore pays them to create things for us Order members that are inconspicuous and really helpful." She held out something for Harry to see. "Like these. I know they look like animal crackers, but there made to change into the animal of choice for five minutes. It's sort of like the canary creams, but these turn you into a complete animal, including there instincts and everything. It's like skipping Animagus training, even though it's only five minutes, that's why there just for the Order, and why Dumbledore keep them and distributes them. Anyways, I'll see you later Harry," Tonks said while showing him the door.

After breakfast Harry went and worked on some reviews; He didn't have any homework because he didn't know what classes they would be taking, but there would be a quiz first day, on which subjects they did choose to take. He did some review of Potions and looked up the Conforming Charm. The charm only gave the theory and not the incantation but he soon found out why. It was suppose to conform the person hit by the charm and make them go along with your ideas for a short while. It would only work on weak people, but it was still an advanced spell because of the way it worked. It involved getting the weak person to do something they might not usually do and was, in a way, controlling someone's mind for a short while. It barely was legal, and only used by Aurors. He also started making plans for the D.A. hoping it would still be allowed by Dumbledore and accepted by the new DADA teacher. Harry then decided it was time to work out so he went to the garage where the weight bench was kept. He worked out for about 2 hours until Dudley said he wanted to use the equipment; even though he was probably just going to smoke. Harry was forced into more review until dinner, but oddly he didn't hate it as much as he used to. Usually Ron, (one of his two best-friends) was complaining so much that he needed help from Hermione, and if she was there, they argued, so it was more of a hassle.

Harry was just finishing his salad and getting up from dinner when he was hit with emotions that were not his own, they were frustration and glee. Glee that at least someone was dead and frustration it was not the one who was planned. When the emotions had subsided he ran to his room to write a letter to Professor Dumbledore but Hedwig, his loyal, snowy-white owl, wasn't
back yet so he wrote down what he could remember and would rephrase it
into a letter later. He opened up his window and lay down on the bed to wait. As he was drifting off into sleep he felt something on his stomach and then a pain as the thing jumped off. Harry opened his eyes to see Fawkes disappear into flames right in front of him and was gone. Harry was frantic, that was his only chance till probably tomorrow morning to give HIS news to Dumbledore. He did the only thing which he could do, he read Dumbledore's news, but Dumbledore only said that there wasn't anything happening, which was supposedly good news. He lay back down and just stared at the ceiling for what felt like hours, but was really
only about one, when Fawkes suddenly appeared again and dropped parchment on the floor and bursting into flames once more. Harry ran to it and picked up the letter and began to read:

Harry,

Hermione has been attacked and her father had been killed. Hermione
will be arriving shortly and will be staying the remainder of the
summer. I'll be there soon, wake everyone up but tell them nothing.

- Albus Dumbledore.